Oracle Team USA, skippered by San Diego resident James Spithill, capped one of the greatest comebacks in sports history Wednesday afternoon to win the 34th America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay.

Down 8-1 a week ago and one defeat away from losing the America’s Cup in the best 9-of-17 match racing series, the American defenders defeated Emirates Team New Zealand by 44 seconds in the winner-take-all finale.

Not only did the American defenders come from far behind in the series, they had to rally in the final race after losing the start and hitting a rogue wave and burying both bows just as they reached the second turning mark on the five-leg course.

“I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Spithill said after his high-tech, 72-foot catamaran crossed the finish line before a huge crowd lining the docks of San Francisco’s waterfront.

“We climbed back from a very deep hole,” said Spithill of winning the series. “Every day we found another level to go to. We rode this huge wave of momentum that built and built.”

Oracle Team USA opened the championship series against the New Zealand challenger two races behind as a result of being penalized two wins for illegally modifying their boats during the 2011-12 preliminary America’s Cup World Series regatta.

Spithill was the winning skipper of the 45-foot Oracle catamaran that won the San Diego leg of the America’s Cup World Series in November of 2011.

The defenders’ actual record on the water in the 34th America’s Cup was 11-8.

After being hit with the penalty four days before the start of the America’s Cup, Oracle Team USA lost eight of the first 11 races to fall behind 8-1 in the official count.

Needing only one win over the final eight races, Team New Zealand nearly won the America’s Cup in the 13th race of the series.

The Kiwis held a safe lead at the start of the final leg of the 13th race before the wind died with a mile to go -- allowing the 40-minute time limit to expire before Team New Zealand could reach the finish line and claim the America’s Cup.

Spithill predicted his team would successfully defend the America’s Cup when it was down 8-1.

A native of Sydney, Australia, Spithill first came to San Diego as a 16-year-old in 1995 as a member of Syd Fischer’s Young Australia America’s Cup team.

He returned to San Diego with Oracle Team USA in 2008 as the team trained off Point Loma for its successful 2010 challenge with its radical 90-foot trimaran.

Spithill’s wife Jennifer is a native San Diegan. The Spithills and their two young sons live on Point Loma.

The 34-year-old Spithill became the youngest winning skipper in the 162-year history of the world’s oldest sporting event in 2010 as the Oracle Team USA trimaran easily defeated Switzerland’s Alinghi defender in two straight races.